Silence of the Sinister
by Descena
Summary: Since failing the stop the events of Day of Judgment, the X-Men need to come up with a plan to stop Apocalypse and his followers. But, in this new time 2019, is Apocalypse the real villain, or is it someone else that they failed to consider? Sequel of DOJ
1. Chapter 1

**Title of the story: **Silence of the Sinister (The sequel to Day of Judgment)

**This is a movieverse story. Comical references may be made but do not be surprised if some characters do happen to appear OOC. The director/writer chooses the vision and direction of the character - which, is me in this case**

**Timeline: **Roughly around 2019

**Breakdown: **A more detailed version of this will be released, but basically Jean, Logan, Erik, Ororo, Emma, and Scott, along with Apocalypse, are forced into 2019. Because of the amount of power Phoenix and Apocalypse were fighting each other with, it accidently dragged the other five into the mix.

**Plot: **While battling Apocalypse, Jean, Logan, Emma, Erik, Ororo, and Scott are sent to Jean and Logan's true time, 2019, where Apocalypse has destroyed most of the United States and its supporting nations. Since failing to change the outcome of the Day of Judgment, Jean and the others must find a way to stop Apocalypse once and for all and salvage what they can of the world in hopes of rebuilding and starting anew. However, their one and only hope, Dark Phoenix, just might end up being their true worst nightmare. What if Apocalypse wasn't the real villain in this time anymore?

**Disclaimer: **Nothing is owned or benefited or profited from this story. Don't steal it!

**Prelude **

**Jean Grey VO:**

_It was so funny to me how we looked back when we were adults and wished we could go back in time. Most people would say that high school was an experience they never wanted to go through again, and I would agree with them. I wasn't popular. Not the high school definition of popular, at least. I never really understood the metaphor of standing in a crowded room and yet feeling so alone any clearer than I did now, or back then. I didn't have to come into my powers in high school to understand that people were fake. No one liked anyone else. It was all acting for the benefit of feeling important, accepted, and wanted. It gave people a purpose. If you couldn't cheer or dance, you pressured yourself to studying, just to place yourself in that popular group because you could teach them what others were failing to grasp otherwise. But no, I wasn't like them. I wasn't in that group. I didn't fit into that group. I fought to keep other's thoughts in different compartments, just to keep my thoughts as my own. But growing up, yes, I did want to go back. So badly. I didn't like looking out in the window and never seeing the sun but rather seeing fire in place of it. I hated walking through the city streets I grew up walking down covered in nothing but rumble and dust from the crumpled buildings around, fire corrupting its once steady frames for hours upon days, days onto the weeks, and those weeks turned into long and dreary months until nothing more was left._

_Apocalypse ruined my world. He destroyed it within the palm of his hand, crushing anything that came in his way and didn't bow down to him. We couldn't stop him. I couldn't stop him. Everything I helped build, everything that I once saw good in was quickly shattered into a million pieces. Out of the original X-Men, a group of gifted and talented mutants who once promised to save the world from the threats of those like Apocalypse, only three were left. Myself, Wolverine, and Forge. Out of those three, in a meek and final surprise attack, only one survived. Wolverine._

_Our history was casted in a shadow, upon first meeting, to flirting, to war, and ultimately until the present. I fell in love with Scott Summers in my world. I married him and I loved him until the end. Never once did I let my feelings of Logan, Wolverine, ever cloud or cut through what Scott and I had. I ignored the affair my husband and nemesis had and I never once sank to his level with Logan, no matter how much my other side or my physical needs and emotions were begging me. A few months after the death of my husband did I finally submit to what had been around us like a heavy fog. I didn't do so because I knew we would die, or because there was no escaping this fateful war. I did so because I wanted to regain the ability to just…feel again. I needed to hold onto that love and that physical attraction so that I didn't lose myself. It was something that kept us alive._

_When Apocalypse surprised us with another attack, Forge had been telling Logan and I about a machine he repaired, one to bring one person to the past to fix the mistakes we made. However, we never got the chance. What happened after, I cannot remember. I traveled back, finding myself in the body of my past self, years before Apocalypse rose to claim war on humanity and mutants. However, the outer blast of the ruined machine brought back Apocalypse as well and realizing that things were changing, but for the worst, I brought my Logan into our past, enlisting his help and knowledge. However, things looked grimed, no matter what we did. Even with telling the X-Men the truth about us and the future, we didn't stop anything. Our actions only brought the war up faster and far more dangerous than either of us could imagine. Through one last ditch effort, I was killed, again. And again, as the Phoenix, I was reborn and brought back, stronger, focused, and unemotional. I fought Apocalypse but I never won. Using the power I could manage without fully unleashing the begging and violent Dark Phoenix, I forced Apocalypse back in our time, and mistakenly, everyone else that surrounded else._

As loud, sudden, gasp was heard throughout the breaking silence. The red-head stumbled up into a sitting position from the dirty ground as her hazel eyes searched around her, taking in the surroundings in the dark and dusty room. She fought to catch her breath, realizing that the room didn't carry much oxygen, before she tossed off some fragments off of her body as she stood. She heard groaning and stirring around. More people were here, along with her, but were they threats? Her hand searched the wall, finding a light switch, as electricity surged and crackled before lights above flickered on. Jean's eyes laid upon the figures rising: Emma, Ororo, Logan, Erik and Scott. Blinking, she moved past them and towards the door of the small building, a small office it seemed, swinging the door open. Stepping out a foot or two, she looked around; a small group, three people she counted, ran past her, dressed all in black, as she looked off in the distance. The sky was cast in an eerie orange glow as small fires burned off in the distance. Buildings that still stood where only standing on half frames like they had been sliced in half. Downtown New York City was covered in dust and blackness. Jean was back in her own time. And nothing had changed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**_  
_

_I didn't know. Confusion swept upon me like the rain falls from the sky and if you looked into my eyes, it was so clear to see…I had no answers, no explanations, and no plan. I was oh so powerful, that I could feel within my bones and blood, but I was utterly powerless in that moment because if you didn't know what to do with the power that you harnessed, then you weren't very powerful at all. It was weird because wasn't a busy and bustling city supposed to be loud and crowded? Wasn't I supposed to be feel comforted and yet annoyed with people yelling all around me for no specific reason, cars blaring their music, tires squealing at the taxi drivers sudden brake, and car horns as one person cursed at the next for failing to yield? I didn't know…things just didn't seem right, like there was a perfect puzzle without the right pieces. And I could feel the eyes on me. They practically were burning, yearning to know what in the world was going on. Their voices ran through my head like shards of glass could break the skin. They all thought so loudly at once that it was difficult to pick apart who was saying what or what they were saying…it was giving me a headache! I hadn't felt like this since I had first developed my powers. Uncontrollable and the urge to just shut them all up!_

_But then…it got quiet. I couldn't hear a sound. My eyes were shut and I was mumbling to myself, but I'll be honest with you…I couldn't tell you the words even if I was in front of the mirror with my eyes open. It scared me, to be honest. I felt alone and cold so suddenly. It took a lot of bravery on my part because all I happened to be was a scared little girl in a big girl's world. You wouldn't believe me with all the damage I've caused, I'm sure, but that was the truth. Two people, as one, fighting for control. That's what it came down to. Her, me, her and I. It all got so confusing. But at this moment I was me. I was terrified and I had to count from three down to one in order to force myself to open my eyes and when I did, I did so in a hurry, snapping them open as I unconsciously sucked in a breath of air. Slowly, I exhaled, as I took in my surroundings. I couldn't tell you where I was at but I thought of one thing…the Matrix. Not the first one, but the one after that, before the crappy ending. Where the guy is in the room with the older guy with all the televisions, in that big never ending white room that he's standing in. You know that one, right? That's what it was like, only there were no televisions, and there was no old man. Not even Neo could save me, or my world, no. But there was someone there. Me. Or, someone that looked like me. _

Nothing but white. The white – hot – room. Was that the right word for it? Why was it even called that when Jean stood there, shivering in her skin? One Jean faced the other. One's expression was utterly terrified and confused while the other remained hard and impassive. You would look at them and see one as the innocent and one as the guilty. The good 'ol good and evil. It always boiled down to that, didn't it? The terrified one was the first to speak.

"Where am I?"

"You know the question to that," came the impassive response.

Jean looked at her doppelganger for a moment. She was rather emotionless, hard, and utterly cruel and cold to the soul. But Jean saw her eyes; they were ruthless, old, and they held so much pain and secrets that it sent shivers down her spine. Did Jean know where she was? She didn't believe so. But she would ask who this image in front of her was, but she knew the response already.

"Where there is dark, there is light," the doppelganger said to Jean. "Where there is evil, there is good. Where there is happiness, there is sadness, and where there is comfort, there is pain. There is not one world, but many. For one solution come many questions, and for each room, there is but one switch to flick."

While the words apart made sense to Jean, the phrases and meanings, if that's what they were supposed to be, did not. While the confusion was written all over Jean's face as she processed the words over and over again, the other figure and image of Jean offered nothing else but silence and a cold stare. "I don't understand…"

"You will," the look-alike cut off. When you allow yourself to let go of the things that hold you back and keep you grounded, of the things you fear the most, you will see the truth and you will see how to fix what you have caused. Until then, you are destined to fail, time and time again."

"Fail?" Jean gulped.

_I don't know what happened after that. It was like watching a television show and suddenly the cable just suddenly went out. You remember what that was, don't you? Cable? It was better than having to hit the television but I loved what they came out with much more than that. Who would've thought that while you were driving you could be watching television? And they said mutants were the problem in the world…_

_Wherever I had been, in this abyss of bright whiteness that only added to my headache, I suddenly wasn't there anymore. My eyes were squeezed shut and my body trembling as if I was living a real nightmare in my own head. That's probably fair to say at this point…a nightmare, in my head._

"Jeannie?" The voice, while close she was sure, seemed rather far away. She sensed other's presence, their essence. It wasn't just in this room either, but miles away, as far as her powers could seem to reach. Slowly her eyes opened, but they were rather unfocused, and as the Wolverine stood in front of her with a worried expression on his dark features, it seemed as if Jean wasn't even conscious or aware of the moment. She didn't blink and Logan, the wolverine, became silently panicked. Jean sensed it and slowly her hazel eyes focused on Logan like a picture took in loading on the computer…the _old_ computer. Netscape internet timeframe.

"Logan?"

Her voice was rather unsure, puzzling. The older man gave a short flash of a grin as he put his hands on the redheads shoulders in a comforting gesture. "Where were 'ya, Jeannie?" His voice was rather soft, surprising, she'd say even. She blinked many times, trying to form an answer, to give him anything that made sense. But Jean realized that she couldn't. Silence was the answer given and it made Logan sigh in disappointment.

When Logan left her side, Jean didn't stop him. She kept her back towards everyone as they all silently looked at one another. Jean felt their confusion and their fear. She didn't sense anyone that had hope. The sky looked like a painting more than a sky. It was hauntingly red, dark, and depressing. A sign of fires that burnt forever until there was nothing left, leaving their trail in the sky as evidence of the destructive damage in its wake.

"This is what it looks like?" The voice belonged to Scott. "The end of the world, I mean. This is what it all came down to?"

They seemed to all reach the conclusion that this wasn't their world. Something must have happened, something must have been triggered, that brought them all to where Jean and Logan had come from in the first instance. They had attempted to save their world from this world…and failed. But something didn't feel right. It was just that Jean couldn't put her finger on it. There was just something about this whole thing that felt odd. Almost like she was swimming, but there was no water.

"What are we supposed to do?" Emma asked, her bright eyes falling upon her comrades in arms. Jean would say that they had been through hell and back together, but these five didn't know hell. Not even if they were currently standing in it. While the memories were displaced and rather fuzzy to Jean at the moment, she knew what she had gone through in this world was anything but a slice of cake. The evidence was in front of her, in this world.

Erik cleared his throat, probably assuming the answers and direction had to be given from him, given his stature and age. "No doubt if we were cast here, Apocalypse has been too."

"Yeah, but there's nothing here left for him to destroy," Scott pointed out.

"What's left of our world?" Ororo wondered aloud.

As they spoke, as they went back and forth it seemed, Jean stared down at her hand that she had out in front of her. It was nothing interesting; at least not to Logan, who was closely watching her. But there was something the doppelganger said. _Where there's dark, there's light. There's a switch in every room._ The contrast…good and evil, dark and light, happy and sad, rain and shine…the end of the world and their world. Two worlds. One, two…

"We're in between worlds." Everyone stopped when Jean spoke. In part, it was because her voice rang through theirs, strong and confident, sure and dependent. Jean didn't realize that they had stopped talking until she just…plainly didn't hear anything anymore. She turned around to face them, her mind working at warp speed, her posture confident and demanding and her eyes and expression set and firm. "This isn't our world, but it isn't yours. It's not…just ours…it's a combination of both. The battle we were in, one of the blasts, sent us here."

A moment went by. Perhaps two. "Yes…but _why_?" came the question from Emma. Jean didn't have an answer though. It more or less left them right back where they had been.

"Maybe it's to even the fighting ground," Logan considered. He was casually leaning against of the steel support frames of the building they were in. Always so focused, calm, and ready for a brawl.

"I'm missing something," Jean whispered to herself, deep in thought, utterly tearing herself away from the conversation at hand. This was their time, she was sure of it. She felt it. It was right in front of their eyes! But what the other Jean was saying to her…it was all contrasted, but everything you needed to make it a humane society. It all balanced one another out and if you had too much of one, the balance tipped, and whatever was there would spill off. If one of the worlds were completely destroyed then the other would be affected by it. All of that evil that developed and ruled in one could completely take over the other faster than it had before. But if their enemy had been pulled out of that world before it could happen… "Logan's right. This evens the field for us."

"How? How does that possibly even things for us?" Emma demanded, throwing her hands in the air.

"Because he has nothing to feed on. Evil can't have their kicks if there's nothing rule over. It just festers and festers until it eventually destroys itself. It's why there's a never-ending battle between good and evil. You can't have one without the other. Neither can survive."

"So, you're suggesting that we leave him here in the hopes that he just…gives up, or something?" Scott asked.

"I think the only way to weaken him is by bringing back what he already destroyed, or what he thought he destroyed."

"How do you suppose we do that?"

"By fusing the two worlds into one."

Emma laughed. "Just when I think you've lost your marbles, you surprise me all over again," the blond mused.

"No one possesses that kind of power, my dear," Erik said.

"Red does," Wolverine replied, much to Emma's bafflement, Scott and Ororo's surprise, and Erik's doubt.

"And that defeats Apocalypse?"

"No, that weakens him."

"Doesn't take care of our problem. He'll just do what he did to your world all over again. We need to end him, for good."

Jean nodded. "And I know just the person for the job."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Shaw. Sentinels. Apocalypse. Mister Sinister. The Hellfire Club as a whole. Dark Phoenix. Morality. Cain. Magneto. S.H.I.E.L.D. The Cure. The Legacy Virus. The never-ending battle between good versus evil, cops and robbers. When would it ever end? Will it ever end? These were never questions that Jean ever allowed herself to think of. Honestly, things had been balanced enough in her past where she didn't need to. She had a mentor, a father figure, in Charles Xavier. He had kept her mind one tracked for the better of mutants and humans alike. She used that knowledge, skill set, and determination to become a doctor. Not just because she could, but because she cared. Jean Gray, before all of this, before the Phoenix, was a balanced and good hearted human being. She had unlimited potential that no one knew or understood, not even Jean herself. But what made her powerful at that time was her heart, her maturity, and the will and desire to help anyone that needed it. She had bedside manner and the gifted intelligence and focus of a patient doctor. She didn't regard herself as being any different from anyone else. She wouldn't say that Phoenix had overpowered her as much as Jean had allowed herself to do what was deemed necessary. In her world, Jean Gray wasn't needed. They didn't need some kind hearted and naïve red head to patch up wounded mutants and civilians. They needed a strong and fearless leader, and who better than to guide them than a God, an entity, such as Phoenix? In the beginning it wasn't pretty. There was so much pain and darkness within her that it made her utterly uncontrollable. But that was where Logan and his side, known as the Wolverine, came in. Dark Phoenix related to Wolverine and his human side. In a way, he was almost like this…example. The human side in her wouldn't allow mass destruction to rebuild a world under her rule and Dark Phoenix had realized it was utterly too much to fight with her calmer side. It just so happened that as the months and years seemed to tick on and the destruction and death toll rose…somewhere down the line Dark Phoenix and Jean merged to become one power, known as Phoenix. It wasn't to say that there weren't two sides still. But while Dark Phoenix tapped into that human side of Jean, Jean tapped into the power of the Phoenix. But she would tell you that it was too little too late for her inner battle to lay to rest. The dead were never coming back; not even with the power that Jean held. Apocalypse, as proven, was just too much with the army he had produced. The X-Men had failed to react to this type of situation and the entire United States paid for it. Those that weren't killed were enslaved by Apocalypse. Those that tried to rise against him were killed to be made an example of. Others simply fled and went into hiding, never to be heard or seen from again.

Europe, during the fall of the number one power, reacted towards North America's war. It cut off ties from the American's and perhaps that only helped in aiding Apocalypse. What they failed to realize was that Apocalypse's eyes weren't only on the United States, but because of Xavier's X-Men and their allies, his plan to overrule every country was stalled as the fighting continued. The United States was known as the battle ground and the other great powers quickly put together armies, humans and mutants alike, to protect its land and people. They had received the news, falsely, that Apocalypse had beaten everyone and ruled entirely over the battle ground so help was never on the way for Jean, Logan and Forge. Instead of fighting, they simply evaded, trying to come up with a plan.

But now…Jean considered things. Since she had been sucked into another world where the war hadn't begun yet, she had a chance to see things in another way, to plan differently. She had wanted to take her allies back with her in this dark world, but it happened and she had to deal with it. Sitting here and wondering how wouldn't get what needed to be done, done. She had to see this as renewed hope because instead of three, they now had the leaders to all the X-Men forces they had around the country years ago fighting in this war. They weren't the only mutants, and they weren't only the most powerful, but this was a team she didn't have before. She didn't have this upperhand. She was aware that they had limited time. Surely if they had made it here, so did Apocalypse. She could vaguely sense him and the barrier she put around herself and her friends she knew would only last so long. They had to do things differently, and what was the best way?

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Their common foes could now be deemed as their allies. Apocalypse threatened more than just the humans and mutants around the world; more than just the X-Men. He suppressed everything and everyone. If a bad guy had a plot before to rule over the world, it had been cancelled. Even Dark Phoenix had realized the extent of Apocalypse's power and rule. It didn't end well for anyone, as the skyline of New York could show as evidence. What was barely left of it, anyway. But Jean had a plan… The common way to move around the city was through the underground tunnels. The subways didn't work but anyone that was avoiding Apocalypse or his army hid in these tunnels. They hadn't been destroyed, much, yet. It was where Jean took them, deep beneath the ground, where they had one of their last remaining gifts from the late Forge.

Using the essence from Phoenix, Jean created a fireball in the palm of her hand as they ran out of light, and she tossed it in the air. The X-Men watched as the fire spread in a circle around them before lighting torches that hung absently on the inner tunnel walls. With the room lit, their eyes lay upon a rather huge object that was covered with what they could guess was some kind of dusty sheet, or something. Jean looked upon the object with a glimmer of glee in her eyes as Logan smirked. "Is that what I think it is?"

Jean met his glance with one of her own. "Forge's parting gift." Using her telekinesis, the sheet flew off of the object, revealing the large jet to the X-Men's astounding eyes. Scott let out a laugh as Jean used her powers to turn the jet's systems on, lowering the loading dock to them. "I think this is fifth of sixth one that Forge had to rebuild after the last one was damaged."

"It's amazing," Ororo murmured. It was quite possibly the only thing she had seen or thought about in the past couple of days. Or, what she had considered to be days to her. With all this time traveling…

"This brings back a lot of memories," Jean recalled with a bittersweet smile, before looking at Scott and Ororo for a moment.

"What surprises me is how you managed to get it into a tunnel," Emma said, looking quite perplexed.

"The tunnel was the best protection anyone had when the war broke out," Logan told the blond, "and we were more confident that they wouldn't be found after the mansion was destroyed. Forge built everything within the tunnels and we cloaked it just to be sure."

"Yes…but how are we supposed to fly this thing _out_ of here?"

At that, Logan just flashed a smirk at the Ice Queen, telling her cryptically, "Just make sure you're buckled in."

**Old Town**

**Prague**

Flying through the restricted zones and doing so without Apocalypse or his goons finding out was fairly easy. For one, they were already at the coast and the second, no one had the technology that Forge or Charles Xavier had still to this day. Cloaking a jet and flying without being heard was just one of those perks. Jean knew where she was going and what they were going to do and once Logan knew where they were heading, they were the only two included in on it. Jean was sure what the team would say and how they would object so she was keeping quiet. The jet landed on the outside of the town called Old Town, in Prague. As everyone stepped out, Jean lead them towards the city's walls, as the jet was cloaked once more.

"Red, are you sure you wanna do this?" he asked the readhead quietly as they walked in front of the group.

"We have to do the things that we didn't do when we had the chance, Logan," Jean told him.

"There's a reason we didn't it, Red," he argued.

Stopping, Jean turned Logan, her face etched with dark confidence and urgency. "There are no reasons for any of this," she hissed. "I don't feel like we accomplished anything, that any of the X-Men ever died for a greater cause or a chance to shift this war in our favor. They just died, Logan! Gruesome and terrible deaths, for no reason!"

"There was always a reason, Jeannie," the older man argued, grabbing her arms. "They knew what they were dying for, what they were fighting for, and you know damn well that they'll do it again."

Swallowing, Jean understood the truth in his words, but it didn't allow her to accept it anymore or any less. She was seeing things through this way. "We don't have an army anymore. This is all we have," she pointed out, referring and pointing to the four onlookers.

Cocking an eyebrow, he asked, "Then what's your plan?"

"You'll see," was all she said before she headed towards the walls once more, with the unsure and reluctant group following. Even though the walls were guarded, there wasn't much that stopped them from entering; Jean used her powers and incapacitated them before they continued on into the city, much to a rather shocked and utterly confused X-Men team that followed.

As they walked through the town, Emma was beginning to get increasingly uncomfortable and paranoid, like every person they walked past were just stopping and staring at them. She slowed to walk side by side next to Scott, as if he could be used as her bodyguard, as Scott carefully eyed those that they passed. "Is it just me or does everyone here seem…"

"Identical?" Storm finished. Each person they came across had a pale appearance to themselves, like they had missed one many too many tanning appointments. Their eyes were vaguely red, their expression rather blank, their hair short and dark brown…almost similar to Scott's. Above their eyes was a distinct mark of a diamond shape, the same color of their eyes. The females looked like the carbon copy of the males, though with jet black hair.

"I can't imagine what you hope to gain out of this, my dear," Erik piped up, realizing who they were about to meet. He had his run in with this sinister man a few times in the past and had no desires to ever meet him again. The younger generation apparently didn't have a clue. In their world and time though, they had yet to become confronted by this madman. It became very clear suddenly that everyone in this town had stopped what they were doing and gathered around them. Jean had to stop as a roadblock of the clones formed in front of her, allowing the others to box them in. Jean figured it would go down like this though. She didn't expect anything else from the man.

Jean just snorted as her eyes flashed and then turned black. She glared at the clones in front of her as their eyes widened in horror, though they held their ground. "Clearly you know no better," Phoenix hissed. "So I'll give you two seconds to move out of my way before I burn you all where you stand."

"Phoenix!" Logan tensed as he remained near Jean, readying for a fight, itching to spill some blood as the others joined behind him in readiness for…whatever would happen. The block in front of her parted as another emerged, a dark, creepy and sinister smirk on his face as his eyes flashed and the diamond mark above his brows flashed blood red. He looked absolutely perfect, radiating with power and confidence, surged by a brilliant mind and fearless tact. Though two of the most deadliest mutants and their powerful allies stood in front of him, the man showed no signs of fear or endangerment. "What an unpleasant surprise! I thought by now Apocalypse had both appealed to your dark side and converted you and your boy toy or you were both food for the little fishes. Disappointing to see how wrong I was."

"Your security needs a little work, bub."

"Ah, well, you see I do not believe it does because this place is cloaked and not meant to be found."

Jean's eyes returned to normal as she walked up to the man. "You were foolish to think that I didn't know where you had gone off to hide."

"Ah, or perhaps not foolish at all, as you and I are not allies," he mused.

"We're fighting the very person you're hiding from and you don't think we have something in common?" Jean retorted causing his smirk to fade as his hatred for this woman boiled beneath his skin. "We have a lot to talk about, Nathaniel…unless you prefer to live into excel with your sorry ass clones, wondering when Apocalypse is going to knock on your door and rip you apart piece by piece."

The cocky grin appeared on Sinister's face once more as he let the words hover a bit. "Funny you mention that. I thought that was how your precious Cyclops died, and yet here I stand, seeing the man very much intact, alive and well."

"You need to a find a better resource for your information then," Jean growled.

The two glared at one another for a short time before Sinister gave a huff, eying Phoenix's little team of misfits. His eyes went back to hers as he looked at her with disgust. "I suppose I should allow you the time to explain to me why I shouldn't kill you on the spot."

"If you could've, you would have," the woman replied. She could feel the uneasy that the X-Men had as the seconds went pass and she could feel how Logan was just ready to fight. But that wasn't why she came here.

"And you have no intention of killing me."

"Not yet." She had a time and place for that.

"So?"

"I'm enlisting your expertise. Specifically about a failed experiment."

Sinister grinned. "Which one? I had many." At this, Logan growled, every fiber in his body wanting to tear this guy apart. Sinister just snickered at the animal, recalling the many times they had that acquaintance before.

"You attempted to further mutant the X-gene, increasing a mutant's ability, making it far more powerful than it was in its original state." At this, Sinister nodded, remembering such an experiment. It had proved rather unstable for some mutants, however, and it didn't last long at all. He had attempted to make it permanent. "I need you to make that potion you attempted years ago again, and I need you to make it for four mutants."

Sinister smiled. "Your friends."

"Jean…" Ororo started, not liking where this was going. She didn't need to know much about this man here, but what she did see and hear, she didn't like one bit.

"That potion was unstable!" Erik chimed in, walking up to them as he pushed his way past Emma and Scott, who watched and listened in stunned silence. "If you know about that experiment, then you know its effect it had on mutants," he fought with Jean. "They practically died at their own hands!"

"That was years ago," Jean argued as she looked at Erik. "Nathanial can make it more stable." Her eyes flicked on him. "I'm sure after all this time even he can realize his own mistakes." And they would be there to oversee it, to watch him.

"This is ludicrous! Charles would never…"

"Charles isn't here!" Phoenix hissed. Her eyes practically penetrated his. "And no matter what, you're going to die in this world, and I'm not sure how you'll ever get back to yours." No sense in buttering up to him and giving them false hopes or promises. That wasn't how Phoenix did business. Her eyes moved from his then onto Emma, Scott and Ororo. "If we are to have any hope in defeating Apocalypse and saving your world, we do things differently." Looking back at Erik, she added, "That means taking risks and going through the extremes. You either die at Apocalypse's hand on his terms, and you die defeating him, on our terms." She waited for him to say anything else, but he didn't. Jean didn't want to read his mind, but she was sure that he was balancing the two out and realizing that either way they would probably die. Five, six, against Apocalypse and his army, in a world that was already on the edge of defeat? Erik never wanted this. Jean would agree that Magneto was the lesser of two evils. It really put things into prospective for you. Even going to a man like Sinister – that told you things were bad. Thankfully, Apocalypse had done him wrong, and revenge was one of the best motivators. Turning to the man, she asked, "So…about that potion."


End file.
